A Concise and Fascinating Historical Overview of Christmas
Christmas is by far the most popular and most widely celebrated festival in the 21st century. It is a Christian festival commemorating the birth of Jesus Christ. The word Christmas is a derivative of the old English words Cristes maesse - “Christ’s Mass”. The present spelling of Christmas probably came into use circa the 16th century. The celebration of Christmas on December 25th annually is traceable to approximately the 3 rd century. It is however unknown exactly when the celebration of Christmas began. Reasons for establishing December 25th as Christmas is fairly obscure but it is held by some church historians that the birth of Christ as “Light of the world” was made akin to the rebirth of the sun to make Christianity more meaningful to pagan converts. Christendom does not claim that Jesus Christ was born on December 25th. The exact date of Christ’s birth is unknown. In the scheme of things, this is inconsequential. Pastor Rick Warren, famed author of ‘The Purpose-Driven Life”...